‘Courts worried about Shaheen Bagh blockade, not human beings’

New Delhi: The women spearheading the Shaheen Bagh demonstrations had some words for those raising hue and cry about the road blockade. They collectively asked, “The government, judiciary and privileged classes are fretting about the closed road but not the women who have been at it for two months. Nor are they concerned about the women making their voices heard all over the country?”

They also said that one road blockade has got some people up in arms when the routine road closures and traffic jams in Delhi do not result in any uproar.

Along with this alleged blocking of road there are many other tactics which are being employed to discredit the Shaheen Bagh protest. At the same time there are many other sly tactics which are being utilized to discourage people. Some believe that by allowing protesters to remain at Shaheen Bagh the government was trying to show that it was not acquiescing to the demands of people in relation to CAA, NRC and NPR.

Elaborating on the ruling dispensation’s insensitivity Ritu Koshak, one of the demonstrators, stated, “Governments exist for the people, not to subject them to worry and pains. Rather than ridding us of such calamities, the powers that be refuse to budge. Because we are like insects to them, they don’t feel our pain.”

“The government is answerable to the public and not the other way around,” she added.

Koshak also sought to remind that the government that the constitution gives them the right to protest. Hence, the administration will have to eventually budge.

She believed that the law is to serve the public and not to be misused by administration to cause havoc. Hence, the law that negatively affect the public should not be applied.

Commenting on Prime Minister Modi’s Benares speech, Koshak opined, “If the PM doesn’t take back this black law, then we will keep our struggle alive. We will also mobilise women all over the country to join this struggle.”

She warned, “Such high-handedness and pigheadedness will only intensify the movement.”

Other protestors like Anita Baag, Ruby, Shaheen Iqra and Raziya Sultan also echoed the similar sentiments while hoping that the judiciary will revoke the CAA. They said that the inability of judiciary to dispense justice will diminish the public’s trust in the system.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Sheikh Tahseen, Rozina Parveen, Sheikh Yusuf and Haneef Patel have come all the way from Nagpur, Maharashtra, to lend support to the Shaheen Bagh protestors.

They mentioned that like Shaheen Bagh, people of Maharashtra are also voicing opposition to what they called the Draconian law. There at least six different sites of protests in Nagpur alone, they added.